Report: S.D. worst for highway safety

Group calls for law changes for texting, motorcycle helmets and seat belts

Jan. 22, 2014

Written by

Mike Vehle

More

ADVERTISEMENT

South Dakota has the worst laws in the nation when it comes to highway safety, leading to preventable deaths, according to a report released today by a national advocacy group.

Of 15 optimum laws promoted by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, South Dakota has adopted two, the lowest number in the nation. Among other changes, the group said the state should authorize law enforcement to pull over drivers simply for failing to wear their seat belts, make helmets mandatory for motorcyclists and prohibit texting while driving.

Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety is composed of consumer, medical, public health and safety groups and insurance companies. They issue a report annually on transportation-related laws in the states.

“We hope that it’s used as a tool to incentivize states to take action and make their drivers and roads safer,” said Catherine Chase, a vice president for the organization.

South Dakota could improve its score by raising the minimum age for a learner’s permit from 14 to 16, creating restrictions for drivers younger than 18 and requiring kids under age 7 to use booster seats. The group also advocates for a law requiring convicted drunken drivers to blow into an ignition device that would not start the car if alcohol was detected.

State Sen. Mike Vehle, R-Mitchell, who heads the Senate Transportation Committee, said Tuesday that he plans to introduce a bill that would ban texting and driving. A similar bill he introduced last year failed, as did multiple laws targeting inexperienced drivers.

Vehle said a large majority of people think driving and texting should be illegal, and he said that if a law were on the books, many people would comply. Critics, he added, argue that some people won’t comply even if there is a law, but Vehle said the same is true of drunken-driving laws.

“Would we want to go back to not having laws for drinking and driving?” he said. “I don’t think anybody would want that. Explain the difference to texting.”

“To me,” he added, “it’s not about tickets. It’s not about fines. It’s about changing the culture of texting and driving.”

But other laws backed by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety have been and will continue to be nonstarters in South Dakota, Vehle predicted, including provisions to increase the driving age.

“We’re a rural state,” he said. “We have students that have to drive a long way. There are a lot of kids who learn how to drive on the farm.”

The state’s “live free” attitude also would make it hard to get a helmet law or a primary-offense seat belt law passed.

But Chase argues that taxpayers ultimately are on the hook for underinsured drivers who get hurt by not wearing a seat belt or helmet. That, she said, makes it more than just an individual choice.